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John Dobson not happy with 1 week ban

John Dobson coach of the WP U21 team is upset at the findings from the disciplinary hearing were two Blue Bulls players actions broke JD Schickerling neck at Loftus last weekend.

JD was injured after he caught the ball from a kick-off when Bulls lock Irne Herbst shoulder collided with JD head and afterwards the other Blue Bulls lock Marvin Orie grapped JD by the neck to force him down to the ground.

JD Schickerling suffered a fractured cervical spine at the C5/C6 level because of the actions from the two Blue Bull players.

Orie was only cited after the WP captain and medical staff requested an investigation. The incident was not looked at on the field by the referee, is assistance or the TMO. Herbst only received an off-field yellow card.

Orie appeared before a SARU judicial committee in Pretoria on Tuesday where he received a one-week ban for his action.

In his findings judicial officer, Advocate Tokkie van Zyl, said it was highly improbable that Orie’s actions could have caused a serious neck injury.

However, Dobson was not a happy about this on Wednesday and said the following in an interview with Die Burger:

“How can it be that the sum-total of the penalty for foul play which broke JD Schickerling’s neck is a one-week ban and an off-field yellow card?

“Should we wait for someone to die before there is active and consistent action taken against players performing shoulder charges, high tackles and spear tackles?

“The International Rugby Board’s regulations clearly stipulate that the severity of the injury should be taken into consideration,” said Dobson.

Dodson was stunned that Herbst escaped a citing because the medical opinion was that his shoulder charge broke Schickerling’s neck.

“The off-field yellow card (which Herbst received) points to foul play. I’m not saying he is guilty, but why not use what we have at our disposal – which in this case would be a hearing,” continued Dobson.

Former Springbok centre Brendan Venter, who is also a medical doctor, believes the incident was purely accidental.

Venter said the timing was just wrong. “Both of them weigh 115kg and the outcome is inevitable. Luckily JD is not paralysed. I don’t think we should denigrate Irne and Marvin,” said Venter

6 comments for “John Dobson not happy with 1 week ban”

Thanks for the clip bunny. First time Im seeing the incident. Have to agree with Venter though. Yes it is sad and disappointing what happened, but we see the exact same thing happen at mauls in every game, every weekend. I feel the emotion of what the result is ( broken neck) was taken out and only the incident was viewed, which is the right way to do it.